CS:GO Economy Guide and Moneymaking

The economy of the CS:GO through the road to the victory. There are various ways and formulas in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that lead to the victory. From the distribution of the roles within the team to the round strategy, from taking the right position to pure skills, many factors can bring victory to you and to your team. However, none of them can be and will be useful without high level weapons and extra equipment such as the flash bangs and bomb defusal kits.

Managing the team economy well in a CS:GO match is the basis of a victory. Especially in the professional arena, moves that cannot be witnessed in an ordinary game are constantly made. So, what is the idea behind those?

In order to manage the team economy in the best possible way, you need to know the cash that you will obtain in the next round based on the result of the current round and the kill bonus based on the weapon you used. As you see in the image, while a win brings in about 3250$ both for T and CT factions, a win, obtain by successfully setting up and detonating the C4 brings a 250$ bonus to the winning side.

If we leave out the hostage rescue themed maps, the T players, who survive the round as the result of the time running out, get no bonus, the CT players obtain standard round winner bonus. The players, plant or defuse the bomb individually obtain 300$ bonus, which may change the tide of the subsequent rounds. We can safely give you our first tip at this point. As a CT player, if you still have time after taking all T players down, you usually need to let the player with the least funds defuse the explosive. This may change depending on whether you will drop a weapon to your fallen friends in the next round or if you want to purchase an M4 instead of FAMAS or if you want that extra 300$ that is required to swap your current weapon with the AWP.

In the situations, where the round time is up, it would be a logical move to try to take down T players after the round time is up as a CT player only if your economy is good. As a T player, if your economy is in a bad shape and if you will have to run “eco” in the next round, saving the AK – 47 or Galil at hand may not be very logical. After the defeat in an eco round, you may have to use an UMP or Galil instead of an AK – 47 due to low funds.

The most important thing that you need to know is how much funds you will be receiving after a loss. As the result of a string of losses, you will be granted 1400, 1900, 2400, 2900 and 3400 $ respectively. After the fifth loss, the amount of bonus will not increase and will remain as 3400$. It would be beneficial to know the round defeat bonus for the next round in a current round that you will play eco. For example, let’s assume, a loss of a eco round, in which you have 2700$, will be your third loss in row. This will mean that you will receive a bonus amount of 2400$ and your total funds will be 5100$ in the next round. If you are playing for the team T, which has access to comparably cheaper weapons, a flashbang or a smoke grenade you purchase may allow you to protect the bomb and that may mean that you will be having an extra cash of 800$ for your team for the next round. Remember that planting the bomb in the rounds that you lose will bring you 800$ per player.

Teams begin the first round of each session with 800$ per player. Using this limited budged correctly and wisely would allow you to win this first pistol round and to gain the economic edge early on. As the Team Nip practiced in “ESL One: Katowice 2015” in a match, having a defusal kit in CT team would give you an extra 5 seconds in case the bomb is set off. The player, who purchased the defusal kit should also purchase preferably a flashbang or smoke bomb with his / her remaining 400 $ in order to give an edge to his / her team. A player, whom you trust his / her aiming ability may go for upper level pistons such as the Five – SeveN or the Desert Eagle instead of body armor. Also for the seasoned teams, purchasing smoke or frag grenade by the support team and handing off a Five – SeveN to the player who purchases the body armor may be a good choice. In CT side, at least three body armors and a bomb defusal kit come to the forefront as the items that should be purchased in the pistol rounds.

In the T side, it is usually seen that a player generally purchases one smoke grenade and two flashbangs to give an edge to his team. The remaining four players don body armors and try to overcome the weakness of their Glock’s against the USP in long range. You may provide a Tec-9 to the best player in your team and thus allowing him to have a nice combo. Purchasing an extra smoke grenade or a flashbang with your remaining 300$ will give you an advantage for planting the bomb.

For the both teams the SIG class weapons to be purchased after a pistol round that was won will allow your economy to be even stronger against your already weak opponent in the second round. Amongst this class of weapons, only the P90, with its high price tag and standard 300$ kill bonus, is a weapon to avoid. All other SMG’s may ease your burden in the subsequent rounds with their 600$ kill bonus. The UMP in this category may serve you well even in gun rounds with its armor piercing feature.

Things are a bit complicated in the rounds that are lost. As a CT Team, the act of “force buy” after a lost piston round is the most logical way to go for. As the result of the eco-losses in the second and third rounds with respective 1900 and 2400$ bonuses, you will reach to a cash level of 4300$ in total. It is also possible for you to take this amount to 4600 – 4900$ with an extra one or two kills and to purchase decent equipment. That is why using your entire fund on the weapons and equipment apart from your team AWP, may damage the economy of your opponent with the kills that you pile up and may help you winning the round against the T enemy, whom don’t have sophisticated weapons yet, with a little push from your luck and skills.

There are two scenarios for the aftermath a lost piston round as the team T. If you failed to set off the bomb successfully, you will have enough funds to purchase an AK-47 only in the fourth round so a force buy in round two will increase your chances to plant the bomb and to have a better gear in the first subsequent gun round. A luck win is also always a possibility.

The things are a bit different if you plant a bomb in the pistol round.1400$ defeat bonus and 800$ bomb set up bonus means that you will have 2200$ at your hand. With 1900$ bonus, you will begin the round four with 4100$ and the players, who planted the bomb and piled up some kills during the eco round will have even better sums. Since you will be able to access to the AK-47, armor and grenades, staying “ECO” during this round will be wise for this scenario.

It is naturally hard to follow the status of the enemy economy but after getting killed, you may display how many people survived the past rounds with the “Round Bonus” that they will obtain. In addition, having an AWP in your opponent and weapons such as Galil, Famas, UMP etc by one or more enemy will give you a clue about the economy of the enemy.

Let’s give you an example from a match between Fnatic and TSM (with its former handle). The team TSM, who played as T in Dust 2 map just received their third loss in a row and their economy is not that bright either. They know that with their fourth loss, they will make 2900$. They will end up spending 4900$ if they purchase an AK-47, body armor and one grenade from each type (except of a decoy) and selecting flashbangs instead of a frag grenade will lover this amount to 4800$. So having 2000$ in each player’s pocket (with the exception of the “AWPer“) would suffice for the next round. The Team TSM, which also deduces from the course of the games that several of the players from team Fnatic have middle level funds, purchases weapons and equipment until their funds decline to 2000$. The teams with self confidence may also lowers this limit to 1.500$ by taking the probability to set the bomb up into account but we do not suggest this course of action for amateur games. Now let us assume that the next round is not the final round of the series. Those equipments may drop some of the enemy down. This weakens Fnatic and a possible TSM win in the next round may force Fnatic to go on Eco. On the other hand, the weapons to be snatched from the Fnatic players, who may be taken down early on the game, may even bring the round win in the hands of armor suited TSM players with the utilization of the clever half buy strategy.

The same applies to the teams, playing as CT but one should always act on by considering that M4 is always more expensive than AK-47 as an incendiary grenade is more expensive than a Molotov. You should also take the bomb defusal kit into account in terms of costs. While the cost of a Team T Rifle Type Full Equipment is 4900$, the same type of equipment CT costs around 5900$ if you add a bomb defusal kit and one grenade from each type. In cases, where your economy is not that strong, equipping two or three players with defusal kits instead of all the lineup will be more than enough.

Extra Information and Tips

The kills that you rack up with the knife will grant you 1500$ bonus. Taking an enemy down with a knife under favorable conditions is contributing the team economy, not trolling the opponent.

CZ-75, along with the AWP is one of two weapons that grant 100$ kill bonus. If you are not mastered an automatic pistol, heading towards P250, which is 200$ cheaper with 200$ more kill bonus would be better.

As the Team T, if you take down all the enemy combatants before detonating the bomb, you acquire standard round win bonus. Trying to take down the enemy, who cannot hold on their effective rifles such as AWP and M4, returns you as 250$ per person.

In cases, where your opponent concedes the loss and keeps their guns, try to keep your weapons as well if your economy is not that good. If you become prey when going for a hunt, you may end up using weapons with inferior effect.

If you are aware that your opponent’s economy is weak but at the same time your economy is also not that good, only the players with higher funds should try to hinder the enemy’s attempt to keep their weapons.

In cases, where the team has a limited budget and a fewer bombs to be purchased, purchasing weapons such as Galil, Famas or UMP and equipment by one or two players may bring you the round victory.

As a T; it may be wise to let the bomb defused in 1 vs 4 or 1 vs 5 situations, where you successfully planted the bomb, in order to avoid getting killed. In cases where you survive even after the bomb is successfully defused, the round defeat bonus and extra 800$ bomb set up bonus will be yours. The equipment you carry cannot be wasted on a hopeless round but it may help for you win the next round.

If you are playing as CT and if you are in a position where you cannot shoot behind the walls like in the B section of the Overpass in addition to the fact that the T economy is in good shape, purchasing only body armor will return you as one extra grenade to purchase. Since you will be a victim to AK-47 and AWP with one single bullet even if you wear a helmet, you may think not to spend 350$ on a helmet.

The Maximum amounts that you can earn and spend as a member of team CT

AWP $4750

M4 $3100

Armor $1000

He grenade $300

Flashbang $200

Smoke grenade $300

Incendiary $600

Defuse Kit $400

According to the table above, a CT player with an AWP at his hand, may spend maximum of;

3100$ + 1000$ + 300$ + 200$ + 300$ + 600$ + 400$ = 5900$. As a rifler, a second weapon is not commonly preferred but you can add a pistol to this formula with a price tag between 300$ – 700$.

You can deduct 400$ of the defusal kit from both results depending of the current state of the team. Also by assuming that the enemy team has no weapons other than AK-47 and the AWP, you can decrease the total costs of the equipment by another 350$ after excluding a helmet.

A CT team with a single AWPer may possess the full set of equipments after 4 of its players spend 5900$ and 1 of its players spend 7500$. For this a total of;

4 x 5900$ + 7550$ = 31150$ should be spent.

Now let’s calculate the maximum cash that a CT player can earn during a gun round.

An ace making player gets 1500$ solely by his / her kill bonuses. If he / she defuses the bomb by his / her own, that is 300$ extra cash and he / she also gets 3500$ round bonus since the round is won by defusing the bomb. That means a total sum of 5300$ (1500$ + 300$ + 3500$) can be earned. Any kill, made by an SMG is reflected to this sum as an extra 300$, made by a shotgun as an extra 600$ and made by a knife as an extra 1200$.

The maximum amounts that you can earn or spend as a T;

AWP $4750

AK-47 $2700

Armor $1000

He grenade $300

Flashbang $200

Smoke grenade $300

Molotov $400

As a T, you will have an edge in terms of the economics. AK-47, which is the most preferred weapon, being 400$ cheaper compared to M4 and the equivalent equipment to your incendiary device in CT side (incendiary grenade) being 200$ more expensive give you an economic edge. The fact that you don’t have to purchase a bomb defusal kit also makes a contribution to your economy as 400$.

When you deduce the 200$ difference for the incendiary grenade plus 400$ difference for the defusal kit exclusion from a CT AWPer, which worth 7550$; a maximum expenditure that a T AWPer may make for himself / herself sums up to 6950$. You can increase this cap up to 7250 – 7650$ by adding a secondary weapon of choice.

A Team T Rifler may equip himself / herself in full gear for 4.900$, 1000$ cheaper than a team CT Rifler by adding 400$ deficit, coming from the difference between the price tags of the rifle classes of the both teams to a 600$ savings from the incendiary device and the defusal kit.

A Team T, comprised of four Riflers and a AWPer, may spend a maximum sum of 26550$ in a single round as a team.

Let’s calculate the maximum bonus that a Team T player may earn in a round;

If we assume that a player aces out in a gun round; the kill bonus that he / she gets will be 1500$. Here comes an additional 300$ if he / she plants the bomb by himself / herself. He now gets 3500$ victory bonus instead of 3250$ if the bomb is detonated. Naturally here we assume that the player takes down a fifth enemy after the bomb is detonated. In this case, the player also gets an extra 800$ bomb detonation bonus. AS the result, a Team T player, in one round can get a maximum of;

1500$ + 300$ + 3500$ + 800$ = 6100$. This amount will increase per kill to be made by an SMG, shotgun or knife instead of a rifle but will also be decreased by 200$ per kill to be made by AWP or CZ-75.

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